Abstract:
Recent years have been marked by the transformation of the European
Neighbourhood Policy within the framework of the Eastern Partnership into the expan‑
sion policy towards Ukraine and Moldova, as well as the withdrawal of Belarus from
the programme. These circumstances determine the research’s relevance. The research
aims to analyse the mechanisms of development of the Eastern Partnership programme,
formulate the problems of the implementation of this initiative at the present stage
and propose options for their solution. The methodological basis of the research was
compiled on the combination of such methods as analogy, classification, historical,
political, legal analysis, forecasting, statistical data analysis, structural ‑functional and
comparative. The research characterises the main stages of the Eastern Partnership
programme’s evolution and identifies cooperation principles within the initiative across
different periods. It also formulates the main directions and features of EU interaction
with participating countries, determines trade turnover volumes between partners,
assesses Brexit’s impact on programme implementation and explores the reasons and
circumstances behind Belarus’ withdrawal from the initiative. The article can be used
by scholars whose interests include the problems of European integration, the EU for‑
eign policy and areas of cooperation between the countries of the organisation and
the post‑Soviet states.
